Gateway Toyota Incompetent/intentional mis-diagnosis of a blown head gasket Toms River New Jersey

  Jeff Ineyw August 27 . On my current road trip to visit my family and friends I experienced some car trouble. Luckily my (problem occurred within a few miles of my brothers house. You would think that when you have a problem with your Toyota vehicle you could expect courteous/competent service at a local Toyota dealership. Not the case when you take your car to Southgate Toyota in Toms River, New Jersey. My issue was that while driving my temperature gauge started to climb. Being familiar with automotive repair the first thing I did was to pull to the side of the road and turn off the vehicle. Fortunately I always travel with a gallon of drinking water.

I added the water to the radiator when it cooled, started the motor, and the temp started to go up again. Hello AAA. We put my car on the flatbed and went directly back to my brothers house (5:30am Sunday). The following that afternoon we took my car the 2 miles to his local Toyota dealership and left it for diagnosis. The service writer told me that the tech determined that I had a blown head gasket, and possible a warped/cracked head (save the jokes). I asked if what tests that they performed and I was told that they started my car and let it idle. I asked if they did a pressure test on the system, or a compression test on the engine cylinders…

I was told that based on their expertise, this would be a waste of time and money, and that because my Toyota has 150,000 miles that they would not even consider replacing the head gasket (I cannot wait to find out what Toyota U.S.A. has to say about this considering this particular engine model regularly performs well past 300,000 miles). To add insult to injury the following two events happened: 1). I was told that they would be happy to install a used motor (with 120,000 miles) for the low price of $4700.00 2). I was told that I now owned a “paperweight” and that it was worth $300-$400. The used car salesman was courteous and polite; however his sales manager was rude and condescending.

The manager suggested that I trade my Sequoia for a 2000 Nissan Exterra and that I should be happy to pay $7000.00 on top of my trade, and taxes/license. He said that he would put this car on the lot (by the way, this car was on the back lot…not prepped…rusted frame…rusted seat frames on every seat in the interior and almost bald front tires, and cobwebs and rust in the engine compartment. A pretty picture, right? ) and get $10,500 all day long…so I should jump. On the upside…yes there is an upside…I listened to my brother Jims’ advice and took it to his mechanic for a second opinion. Bottom line…my radiator cap failed, and he installed a new thermostat as a precaution (my idea).

Thank you to Andrew Kyriacou, owner, Auto Tech in Toms River New Jersey. I heard from the customer relations person at this dealership. I heard from a secretary. I had thought that I would hear from someone in mangement/owner with an apology and possibly an offer of retribution. Even less thrilled with this situation as time progresses. I was out 3 days of work, and the additonal expense of unnecessary diagnostics due to an original FAILED diagnosis of my issue. I still am not sure if this dealerships' service department is incompetent or criminal. I am leaning towards the latter. I will continue to post my concerns on the web detailing my situation and the name of this dealership until someone steps up and makes an effort to address my disatisfaction.

I heard from the customer relations person at this dealership. I heard from a secretary. I had thought that I would hear from someone in mangement/owner with an apology and possibly an offer of retribution. Even less thrilled with this situation as time progresses. I was out 3 days of work, and the additonal expense of unnecessary diagnostics due to an original FAILED diagnosis of my issue. I still am not sure if this dealerships' service department is incompetent or criminal. I am leaning towards the latter. I will continue to post my concerns on the web detailing my situation and the name of this dealership until someone steps up and makes an effort to address my disatisfaction. 8/27/13 My 2001 Toyota Sequoia SR5 was misdiagnosed by Gateway Toyota in Toms River,NJ.

As of todays date I have neither been offered an apology nor an offer of rebate from Gateway management/owner. I incurred additional costs and lost time working due to either an incompetent, or intentional mis-diagnosis of a blown head gasket. The issue with my vehicle was resolved by an alternate mechanic...diagnosis...bad radiator cap. Inexcuseable mistake by an authorized Toyota dealership. Probably never the recipient of Toyotas' Presidents Award...just a guess. I was even more appalled when told that my vehicle was not worth repairing...that I should take it to a junk yard and sell it for scrap. Boo to the service department and lower management. I feel that those involved do not desereve the honor of working on or with any Toyota product